These instructions apply to the Dodge Charger Mk6 (LX) 2006-2010.
For other models, please choose your vehicle here.
An amber ESP/BAS light glowing in your Charger after you pulled the battery or had ABS work done rarely means anything is broken. The Electronic Stability Program shares a steering angle sensor that loses its straight-ahead reference whenever power is cut, and the warning shows up after about five drives. You can recalibrate it in the driveway in a couple of minutes with no scan tool. Do it stopped on level ground with the front wheels straight.
How you know it’s just a lost calibration
On a Charger this often follows the kind of jobs owners do to these cars: yanking the battery for a header or exhaust install, an audio build, or a long winter sitting on a tender. Roughly five key cycles after power is restored the ESP/BAS lamp comes on and stays on, yet the car drives exactly as before. That steady, no-symptom light is the giveaway. A lamp that blinks only under hard acceleration or in a corner — where a Hemi R/T will actually work the traction system — is pointing at something real instead.
Before you start: park on level ground with the engine idling, keep your foot on the brake, and make sure no one is standing near the front wheels — the power steering swings the wheel quickly and firmly from lock to lock.
- Start the engine and let it idle. Keep the car stationary throughout.
- With the road wheels pointing straight ahead, centre the steering wheel.
- Turn the steering wheel all the way to the left until it reaches the internal stop, then all the way to the right until it reaches the opposite stop.
- Return the steering wheel to the centre, straight-ahead position.
- Switch the engine off, then restart. The ESP/BAS light should now be out.
Why it happens
Stability control decides when to trim power or brake a single wheel by comparing your steering input against the car’s actual yaw. That calculation needs a precise electronic zero for centre, and a battery disconnect wipes it. Rather than guess and risk braking the wrong wheel on a rear-drive muscle car, the module parks itself and lights the ESP/BAS lamp until the sensor is retaught.
If it doesn’t work or the light comes back
- Reach both internal stops fully. On a car owners like to launch, it is tempting to rush the sweep — a half turn won’t register and the relearn quietly fails.
- Start with the wheels genuinely straight; the routine treats your starting point as centre.
- Hard launches and burnouts do not cause this light — if it keeps returning with a good battery, read the chassis “C” codes at autodtcs.com, as a wheel-speed sensor is the usual real culprit.
- SRT8 models run bigger brakes and a sharper calibration but use the identical sensor and this same procedure.
Keep the car on level ground with the park brake set and clear of traffic while you turn the wheel, and make this one of the jobs you do every time you disconnect and reconnect the battery.
Independent guide — not affiliated with Dodge. Always follow your official service manual and safety precautions. Read our full disclaimer.